This week, GameStop received a class-action complaint alleging that the company wiretapped visitors through Zendesk, shared those visitors’ transcripts to third parties. Filed in the Central District of California, the putative class’s claims include violations of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”) under California Penal Code § 631.
Plaintiff and putative-class representative Miguel Licea allegedly visited Minnesota-based GameStop’s website, communicating with a Gamestop employee through the website’s chat feature. Plaintiff argues that Gamestop transcribed those communications, then shared those transcripts with “at least one third party.” Plaintiff contends that before Gamestop did those acts, Gamestop did not ask for Plaintiff’s consent — and Plaintiff did not provide any such consent.
Plaintiff defines the putative class as follows:
“All persons within California who: (1) visited Defendant’s website, and (2) whose electronic communications were recorded, stored, and/or shared by Defendant without prior express consent within the statute of limitations period.”
The complaint does not specify which “third parties” have allegedly obtained the transcripts. Rather, the complaint names “Doe Defendants 1 through 25” — asserting that Plaintiff will amend the complaint when Plaintiff identifies those third parties.
The complaint includes an allegation that Gamestop “shares the secret transcripts with Zendesk, a third party that publicly boasts about its ability to harvest highly personal data from chat transcripts for sales and marketing purposes.” Notably, the complaint does not name Zendesk as a defendant.
As relief, Plaintiff seeks declaratory judgment of CIPA violation, injunctive relief, statutory damages, punitive damages, and fees.
Plaintiff is represented by Pacific Trial Attorneys, APC.
